Parklane pick-me-up

Friday

Apr 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Parklane Elementary third-grader Nhung Huynh lifted a box filled with butterflies and let them loose on Tuesday as teacher Terri Matsuhiro prodded the rest of her class to bid the insects farewell.

Keith Reid

STOCKTON - Parklane Elementary third-grader Nhung Huynh lifted a box filled with butterflies and let them loose on Tuesday as teacher Terri Matsuhiro prodded the rest of her class to bid the insects farewell.

The butterflies fluttered over a chain-link fence and into the Parklane garden area, where wilted sunflowers and weeds have grown over other flowers and plants.

Come Saturday, school Principal Princetta Purkins and Vice Principal Ruth McMaster said those butterflies should have a better home to live in.

Parklane Elementary, located on Tam O'Shanter Drive in north Stockton, is a 2013 recipient of a school makeover grant as part of Comcast Cares Day.

This weekend, Comcast employees and parent volunteers will converge to provide work weeding the garden, and potentially replacing backboards on the basketball hoops, replacing benches, and giving the aging school a much needed facelift.

The unknown project list is in part because Parklane doesn't know how much money it will get from the Comcast grant. Comcast spokesman Bryan Byrd said the company considers the cleanup day, and all the volunteer help, to be the big prize. Grant money is considered a "surprise bonus" at the end of the day.

"We could be getting anywhere from $1,000 to $7,000 in the grant. We don't know. It depends on how many people volunteer," Purkins said.

Byrd said Parklane is likely to get a healthy portion of the grant, but he said the figure is decided by the corporate office.

The cable provider said it expects 70,000 employees across the nation to take part in aiding schools in beautifying their campuses.

Purkins said three former Parklane students who work at Comcast in Stockton helped her school qualify for the grant.

McMaster said anybody who wants to volunteer to help Parklane increase the amount of grant money it will receive can call her at (209) 953-8409.